Month: April 2011

OK, this is it. Your very last reminder to go, Go! here and pre-order a signed copy of Ghost Ship. Tomorrow — Saturday, April 30 — is the very last day ever that you’ll be able to do this. Pre-orders almost match pledges, so we know there’s somebody — or even somebodies — out there who will be Mighty Disappointed, as we say here in Maine, if they don’t Act Now.

In other news, it’s Friday, and that? Is a fine thing, indeed. I met Steve at Cacciatore’s after work for a late lunch, early dinner, then came home spent the BN gift certificate my faculty gave me for Secretaries Administrative Professional’s Day. Well, done Faculty! Canny shopping gained me The Perilous Gard (Elizabeth Marie Pope), I Don’t Want to Kill You (Dan Wells), Where the Mountain Meets the Moon (Grace Lin), The Secret of Roan Inish, Ondine and! I pre-ordered Pat Wrede’s Across the Great Barrier, the (eagerly awaited, in these parts) sequel to Thirteenth Child. Four books and two selkie flicks.

*is happy*

Plans for the weekend include the ever-popular laundry; the lawn-tidying postponed from last weekend; working on George; and finishing up with Treasure Island. Maybe I can convert a chapbook or two, if I get up early. Um? I have to outline a talk that I agreed to give on. . .next Thursday evening.

Eep.

Well. Maybe the chapbooks will wait.

I haven’t forgotten the Closet Auction; plans are to get those started early-to-mid next week.

Hope everyone has a lovely weekend!

THIS SATURDAY DEADLINE FOR SIGNED GHOST SHIP
If you want a signed hardcover first edition of Ghost Ship, which will be published by Baen in August 2011, you must pre-order a copy from Uncle Hugo’s special website, here and you must do so by Saturday, April 30! That’s just three days.
Reiterating the rules from InfoDump #87:

Your credit card will not be charged until your book has actually shipped.

If you want to receive a signed copy of GHOST SHIP, you must pre-order, even if you entered a pledge for a book.

And you must act NOW: Pre-orders are open through April 30, 2011.

GHOST SHIP will be published in early August 2011. Cover price is $25.

Uncle Hugo’s offers a flat $6 shipping fee in the U.S.; two GHOST SHIPs travel for the same six bucks as one GHOST SHIP. Overseas orders will have to have their postage figured on a case-by-case basis at the ordering site.

Yes, you may add other books to your GHOST SHIP pre-order.

Questions about this part of the process must be addressed to: unclehugoATaolDOTcom (where AT and DOT are replaced by the usual)

ELECTRONIC CHAPBOOKS AVAILABLE DRM-FREE FROM AMAZON AND BN

Pinbeam Books (aka Steve and Sharon) has been busily adding to its lists at Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble. The following chapbooks have been uploaded and are, or will shortly be, available from the Kindle and the Nook stores.

Allies: Adventures in the Liaden Universe® Number 12
Calamity’s Child
Duty Bound: AitLU Number 3
Eidolon: AitLU Number 14
Fellow Travelers: AitLU Number 2
Halfling Moon: AitLU Number 16
Master Walk: Tales of the Advocacy Number One
Misfits: AitLU Number 15
Necessary Evils: AitLU Number 11
Shadows and Shades: AitLU Number 8
Skyblaze: AitLU Number 17
The Cat’s Job
Two Tales of Korval: AitLU Number 1
With Stars Underfoot: AitLU Number 10

The chapbooks are available from: BN.com, Amazon.com, Amazon.uk, Amazon.de Search on “pinbeam books” or particular titles. And do check back — we’ll be uploading chapbooks until we run out!

As mentioned, the eChapbooks are DRM free. This means that you don’t need to have a Kindle or a Nook (or a Kindle or Nook app) to read them. You can read Pinbeam Kindle files on your mobi device and Pinbeam Nook books on your ePub reader. We do eventually intend to extend our distribution base to other ebook vendors.

Full disclosure: Many of these stories have been available as part of the Liaden Unibus bundles I and II from Webscriptions.net for several years.

SKYBLAZE HAS SHIPPED

All preordered editions of Skyblaze: Adventures in the Liaden Universe® Number 17, have shipped. If you have not received your book(s), please write to editor1ATsrmpublisherDOTcom
(where AT and DOT are replaced by The Usual).

GHOST SHIP EARC AVAILABLE FROM BAEN WEBSCRIPTIONS

For those who indulge the Ghost Ship eARC is now available, here

An “eArc” is an electronic Advance Reading Copy. It will contain errors. It does cost more than the corrected ebook, coming in early August. What you get for your money is this: You get to read the story four-and-a-half-months before the Whole Rest of the Entire World!
Where in the World Are Lee and Miller?
PORTCON MAINE
June 23-26, 2011
Wyndham Hotel
South Portland, Maine
http://www.portconmaine.com
PortCon Maine is a fan-run anime convention growing into being a general geek-interest convention. Sharon and Steve have previously been panelists at PortCon; this year, they’re listed on the Guests of Honor page for this June’s event.

RENOVATION, THE 69TH ANNUAL WORLD SCIENCE FICTION CONVENTION
August 17-21, 2011
Reno, Nevada
http://www.renovationsf.org/
Sharon and Steve will be panelists. See you there!

THE GREAT NEW ENGLAND STEAMPUNK EXPOSITION
September 16-18, 2011
Courtyard Marriott/Central Massachusetts Expo Center
Fitchburg, Massachusetts
http://www.thegreatnewenglandsteampunkexhibition.com/index.html
Steve and Sharon will be Guests at this Steampunk Extravaganza. Other attending luminaries include but are not limited to Abney Park, Phil and Kaja Foglio, and Jake von Slatt.

CHATTACON 37
January 20-22, 2012
Chattanooga Choo Choo
1400 Market St
Chattanooga, TN 37402

Chattacon

Chattacon is a classic southern convention that Steve went to several times in very early incarnations — but hasn’t been back to for more than 30 years! This year coming, as for the last several, the convention will be held at Chattanooga Choo Choo — a train station turned into a hotel — a destination worth a trip all by itself! GOH list includes Steve Miller and Sharon Lee, Laura Anne Gilman, John Picacio – Artist GoH, Rachel Caine – Special Guest, and Mark Van Name – Toastmaster

UPCOMING FROM LEE AND MILLER
Lots of Lee and Miller material coming in 2011, as Baen continues to issue omnibus editions of the Liaden Universe® backlist. Here’s what you can expect to see over the next few months in your favorite local bookstore:

Korval’s Game — May 3 (includes Plan B and I Dare)
Saltation mmp — June 28
Ghost Ship — August 2
The Crystal Variation — September 6 (includes Crystal Soldier, Crystal Dragon, Balance of Trade)
Mouse and Dragon mmp — October 25
SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL BOOKSTORE

Uncle Hugo’s: http://www.unclehugo.com/

University Bookstore: http://www.bookstore.washington.edu/services.taf?dept=about&category=loca

Pandemonium Books: http://www.pandemoniumbooks.com/

Missing Volume: http://www.themissingvolume.com/

Borderlands: http://www.borderlands-books.com/

Dream Haven: http://www.dreamhavenbooks.com/

Flights of Fantasy: http://www.fof.net/

Mysterious Galaxy: http://mysteriousgalaxy.booksense.com/

Constellation Books: http://www.constellationbooks.com/NASApp/store/IndexJsp

Children’s Book Cellar: http://www.indiebound.org/stores/childrens-book-cellar

All of the above folks do mail order and take want lists.

BLOGS AND OTHER WEBLY THINGS OF NOTE

Theo_Waitley is the discussion group for readers of Fledgling and Saltation: http://community.livejournal.com/theo_waitley/

Where Dragons Rest: http://community.livejournal.com/liaden_readers/

Steve Miller’s blog, Journeyman: http://kinzel.livejournal.com/

Sharon Lee’s blog, Eagles over the Kennebec: http://rolanni.livejournal.com/

SRM Publisher blog: http://srmpublisher.livejournal.com/

Sharon Lee’s “Professional” blog: http://sharonleewriter.com

Facebook Connections — please feel free to add us!

http://facebook.com/kinzel — Steve Miller

http://facebook.com/rolanni — Sharon Lee

Liaden Interest Groups on Facebook

Clan Korval: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=38719490864&ref=ts

Friends of Liad: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/group.php?gid=16280839259&ref=ts

Flaran chamenthi: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/group.php?gid=2213414696&ref=ts

GoodReads

Sharon’s Author Page:http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/57980.Sharon_Lee

*Steve’s on Twitter*: http://twitter.com/bechimo

*Sharon’s on Twitter, too*: http://twitter.com/ClanKorval

DISCLAIMER STUFF
This InfoDump is a product of the Liaden Universe®, accept no imitations. You have received this message because you asked for it. If you wish to subscribe to the Liaden Universe® email list, go: http://www.fireopal.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/liadenuniversenews

Called CIGNA this afternoon, explained the problem and got it taken care of in less time than it had taken to navigate the phone tree and actually reach a live human. Thank you, Brittany; it is rare and bright and very welcome, to find something that was easier to do than I had feared.

Moving on with the evening’s work, I compiled and uploaded Duty Bound: Adventures in the Liaden Universe® Number Three (copyright date: December 3, 1999. Um, eek.), and Shadows and Shades: AitLU Number Eight.

The electrifying project has really brought home how long we’ve been doing this writing thing — and I’m only dealing with work from the First Rebirth — and how much we’ve written. Yeah, it’s taken us dern near 30 years (with, yanno, a ten-year gap in the middle), but still — that’s an impressive little mountain of words we’ve got here.

Probably no echapbooks uploaded tomorrow — we have class — but my intent is to see this thing done. We’ve uploaded fourteen; only — what? — eleven? twelve? more to go? Piece o’cake.

After we get the existing paper chapbooks in the Kindle and Nook stores, then we’ll start expanding our distribution base. It remains Highly Improbable that these books will be offered at Webscriptions. This is why. Remember that Nook = epub and Kindle = mobi, and that we are making the electronic chapbooks available DRM-free.

And now, it’s time for lunch.

Eidolon: Adventures in the Liaden Universe® Number Fourteen has been uploaded to the Nook Store and to the Kindle Store. Look for it tomorrow, late afternoonish, I’d guess.

Today’s mail brings correspondence from the Scranton Claim Office of the Connecticut General Life Insurance Company, which has a Chattanooga address. CIGNA imparts the happy news that it is rejecting payment of a bill for ambulance services submitted on our behalf by the Bangor Fire Department, because — wait for it — the Bangor Fire Department is not an approved vendor.

O, rly?

*sees long, acrimonious phone conversation in her very near future*

But, honestly, what can you expect from people who think Scranton’s in Tennessee?

OK, I’m calling it a night.

Stay safe, y’all.

Got lots of stuff done this weekend. Still got lots of stuff to do. Day-job not high on the list of things to do that seem either useful or remunerative.

Ah, well.

I’m still thinking about the best disposition of the things that fell out of my closet. Yes, when I decide what’s going up to eBay and when, I will let y’all know first.

No echapbooks created today. Maybe tomorrow. As of right now, the Compleat List of electrified, DRM-free chapbooks stands at eleven. Here are the titles:

Allies: Adventures in the Liaden Universe® Number 12
Calamity’s Child
Fellow Travelers: AitLU Number 2
Halfling Moon: AitLU Number 16
Master Walk: Tales of the Advocacy Number One
Misfits: AitLU Number 15
Necessary Evils: AitLU Number 11
Skyblaze: AitLU Number 17
The Cat’s Job
Two Tales of Korval: AitLU Number 1
With Stars Underfoot: AitLU Number 10

The chapbooks are available from:

Barnes and Noble

Amazon.com

Amazon.uk

Amazon.de

Progress on the Book Presently known as George
37,038 words/100,000 OR 37.4% complete

School was nothing at all like guesting with Maelin and Wal Ter at Glavda Empri, and sharing their tutors and lessons.

The voting lists for the Hugos in all categories and for the Cambpell Award for Best New Writer have been announced.

This is the list from which the membership of this year’s upcoming WorldCon — Renovation, to be held in Reno, Nevada, August 17-21 — will vote. The winners of that round of voting will be announced at the Hugo Awards Ceremony on August 20.

Congratulations to all the finalists! And to everyone who put forth the effort to nominate — thank you!

Tips for supervising your secretary: If your secretary says she’s confused, she means she’s confused. The fact that you are not confused doesn’t mean that she’s not confused. And it is never, ever, not even if you’re in a really bad mood because someone is being confused about something that’s perfectly clear — it is never OK to respond to a declaration of confusion on the part of the party of the second part with, “You’re not confused,” and/or “This is not confusing.” That’s right up there with those perennial hits, “You’re wrong to feel that way,” and “I’m sorry if your feelings are hurt.”

In the Real World, I compiled and uploaded two more chapbooks this evening: Fellow Travelers: Adventures in the Liaden Universe® Number Two and Necessary Evils: Adventures in the Liaden Universe® Number Ten . They should be arriving at BN.com and an Amazon.com near you sometime over the weekend.

Speaking of, both Calamity’s Child and The Cat’s Job are now available. The Cat’s Job presents a little bit of a challenge to find, because I somehow munged the title. I will fix the title, but I can’t do it yet because Amazon Back Room says the book is only “publishing” in which state it cannot be amended, even though it’s actively for sale. You can’t make this stuff up. But! Be assured that once I can make it right, I will.

Sigh.

Show of hands: How many of y’all are really glad it’s Friday?

If I can make it ’til May 20 at the day-job, I’m golden. Deep breaths.

Two more chapbooks went up to BN and Amazon today — Calamity’s Child and The Cat’s Job, neither a mainline Liaden book, though “Sweet Waters” (in CChild) is a Liaden Universe® story. Anyhow, they should be making an appearance in the Kindle and BN stores within the next day.

Also, for those of you in Germany — Amazon today started selling Kindle books at amazon.de, which makes three storefronts for the price of one — Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, and Amazon.co.de

Thanks to sleary for her advice on how to handle the BN links. I’ll be getting back to that, um, soon.

And, just by the way — I’m behind on my email.

G’night.

1. Want a signed, first edition hardcover of Lee and Miller’s upcoming Ghost Ship, the Thrilling Sequel™ to I Dare and Saltation? You can pre-order yours here, but be quick, O quick! Pre-orders close on April 30.

In case you’ve missed all previous discussion of this, more details are available here, or here.

2. Pinbeam Books (aka Sharon and Steve) has been converting Adventures in the Liaden Universe® chapbooks Numbers One through Seventeen into ebooks in a seemingly random, but actually cunning, fashion, and posting them to the Kindle store and to the Nook store. We will eventually branch out to other vendors. Note the use of the word “eventually.” Also bear in mind that both editions (Kindle and Nook) are DRM-free. This means that your mobi device will be able to read chapbooks uploaded for Kindle and your ePub reader will be able to read those uploaded for Nook.

2A. A search on Adventures in the Liaden Universe in the Kindle store at Amazon should net a list of those titles currently available.

2B. A search on “Adventures in the Liaden Universe” (mind the quotes — very important) in the NookBook store at BN.com should ditto.*

3. If you were having a bad day and took refuge under a rock yesterday, I repeat — The Ghost Ship eArc is now available from Webscriptions.

3A. If you have read, or will soon read, the above-referenced eArc and want to talk about it in a spoilery fashion, I ask, on behalf of those readers who will not read the story until August, when the hardcover is published, to please make use of the Liaden Spoilers Community, here, where a lively conversation is already in play.

4. Thank you for your kind attention.

——-
*Geek Help Requested: Why can I hot-link to specific book pages on Amazon and those links function both at sharonleewriter.com and LJ, but! hot-links to specific book pages that function at sharonleewriter.com are redirected (I think by BN?) to the front page? I like to make it as easy possible to part people from their money help people buy books. Is there a (legal, non-violent) way to get around the redirect?

Thanks!

Please, no spoilers or discussion of the plot of Ghost Ship in this venue — the book doesn’t come out until August, remember, and many people following this blog are Strong and Upstanding and wait until hardcopy publication to get their fix story.

If you Simply! Must! talk plot/character/story arc/continuity, please use the spoiler group, over here

Thank you for respecting your fellow readers.